January 30, 2024, 7:38 p.m
PiataAuto.md editors
Nikola is one of the first manufacturers in the world that launched with the idea of producing electric trucks, on the one hand, and those with hydrogen and fuel cells, on the other. Unfortunately, the process of creating them took a long time and was shrouded in fraud, in which the company faked technological advances, which ultimately led to federal charges against Nikola founder Trevor Milton and stiff penalties for him. accompanied by his dismissal from the company. However, Nikola later partnered with Iveco and quickly obtained truck platforms and cabs, and was able to put two models into production — the Tre BEV, meaning the electric model, and the Trec FCEV, meaning the hydrogen model. Well, now a trucking company owner, who bought such a truck, drove a Nikola hydrogen truck in real life, on a real delivery, to test the range.
The owner’s name is William Hall and his company is called Coyote Logistics. William is a follower of hydrogen and fuel cell technology, often mentioning in recent years that he is convinced that it can be one of the main pillars in the development of trucking. And to align with his own beliefs, he also bought a hydrogen truck, produced by Nikola.
Once the truck arrived in his company’s fleet and made the first shorter test deliveries in the hands of his team’s drivers, the company owner wanted to make a longer real-life autonomy test delivery. It started from the port of Oakland, California, and the trailer, including the container on it, weighed 17.7 tons. So, it was not exactly a load at the maximum limit, but we also have to take into account the weight of the tractor head, which, for the hydrogen model, is about 11.8 tons. It is a heavier tractor, so, but still the weight is relatively kept in check by the fact that there is only one fuel cell installation on board, of 200 kW, not 2 or 3 as happens with other trucks in development on hydrogen, for example the Isuzu truck with Honda fuel cells.
Therefore, the Nikola truck driven by William Hall weighed a little over 29.5 tons in total with the trailer. He followed a route through the Altamont mountain pass, which has a maximum altitude of no more than 300 meters, but then also climbed through the Tejon pass, which already reaches an altitude of 1,263 meters, so there were decent climbs, with more difficult terrain.
Of course, the truck went down, regenerating electricity, but the Nikola hydrogen truck also has a 164 kWh battery, which stores the electricity for regeneration or simply what the fuel plant produces. Namely, with the help of this battery, the truck can absorb the difference in the energy required for propulsion, of 400 kW, required by the electric motor in continuous mode or 575 kW in short effort mode, and the 200 kW delivered by the fuel cells.
The drive was so long that the driver had to take a mandatory 10-hour break in Long Hills, and there was no need to refuel there. The next morning he continued on his way and ended up in Long Beach, traveling exactly 400 miles to his destination, or 643 km, and still having 140 miles of range left. That’s 540 miles of total range, or 869 km, more than the 500 miles or 800 km promised in the official technical data by Nikola! And this even if there was a mountain pass of over 1,000 meters altitude on the route!
Impressive, therefore, except that there is also a small shade of this performance. William Hill says that when he was very close to the terminal where he had to unload his container, his truck broke down, a valve on one of the 5 hydrogen tanks getting stuck. As a safety measure, the truck blocked all tanks and disabled the fuel cells. Fortunately, the battery still had 32 km of pure electric range left and the truck allowed the driver to proceed with limited electric propulsion, so he was able to reach the terminal and unload his cargo in time. William says that the people at Nikola were very quick to send a team of mechanics, who solved the truck’s problem on the spot within 30 minutes, and he was able to continue on his way afterwards.
Overall, the owner of the transport company is satisfied with his experience and the autonomy he has gained in real life, and says that small problems are an inevitable part of their adoption, and he is not deterred by these problems from being a hydrogen follower.
William did not announce the consumption of his truck, but only said that he drove at a moderate speed, taking care of the consumption. However, knowing the autonomy obtained by him, but also the fact that 70 kg of hydrogen can fit in Nikola’s tanks, we can also estimate the real consumption, which was about 8.1 kg/100 km. If we report in kWh the electricity required for the production of one kg of hydrogen, about 53-57 kWh/kg, then we get a global energy consumption of 430-460 kWh/100 km, about 3.0-3.5 times more greater than an electric truck would consume. But, of course, Nikola Tre FCEV’s electric motors consumed much less, being very efficient, in fact. The problem of high global consumption comes from the energy needed to produce green hydrogen, not necessarily from the consumption on board the truck.
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